Reply To: Dovetail Practice Joints
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OK, more practice and a bit more on my workspace, why I do this, etc. Trying to drum up some dialogue so going to make a lengthier post with plenty of photos.
So I decided to step up the dovetail practice to the next level–more than just 1-2 dovetails so I used Paul’s method with the ruler at the diagonal to plot several points, equally spaced, on a slightly wider board (a free oak scrap that Home Depot gave me simply because it has been partially sawed by someone else and thus they couldn’t properly ring it up. OK, whatever, free wood is free wood! I turned it into a chisel box and practiced a dovetail with the remainder. And I learned some cool tricks/techniques that improved parts of my joint (though still clearly needs work).
Here you can see the rough layout for the tails. I tested a couple of different saws and ultimately found my best cuts were with my frame saw–the lines just seemed crisper and straighter than what I was getting with my other saws (maybe not set perfectly, a blade imperfection, etc.)
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I have watched and re-watched Paul’s dovetail technique videos several times and finally figured out how to get a clean wall without the internal tear-out issues I used to have. I noticed that when doing the chopping, Paul actually makes the first chop 1-2mm in front of the knife wall, so not to move it before paring it back to the knife wall on the 2nd cycle of chopping. This ensures that the knife wall has a minimal chance of moving due to still not having enough space for the waste wood to escape. I also have switched to bevel down use of the chisel in the vise and NOT trying to split all the way to the knife wall–the waste will come out cleaner and in larger masses when chopping out what has been loosened–paring all the way to the knife-wall is not the point and makes for a much messier cut. I had been doing it wrong all this time…Much cleaner lines with almost no visible internal tear-out!
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Similar strategy with the pins. Nice clean cuts/sharp edges.
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That said, I still need to practice cutting to get them absolutely flush to the point that they fit with no gaps, yet at the same time do not leave so much material that it fits so tight that it causes the wood to split. I did have that issue to a degree with this joint.
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